Jay Z And Beyonce Divorce Rumors

What Jay Z & Bey's Split Would Really Mean For Men

The Ugly Business Of Celebrity MarriageThen there's the celebrity aspect of the relationship. Something like this will make just about anyone cynical enough to believe that literally everything a celebrity says or does is calculated, transactional even. At this moment, Beyoncé’s Instagram is overflowing with recently posted pictures of her with Jay and their daughter — nope, nothing to see here folks, just us being a happy family. At any other time, people would gush over photos like these (if they found them remarkable at all). But now? It can’t help but smack of PR desperation, a red herring to throw us off the scent until they can compose an official statement. It’s particularly offensive, because the notion of her staying with a philanderer for the sake of image makes her look cheap and weak, especially when so much of her music is aimed at empowering women. Once that facade cracks, you begin to question just about every aspect of Jay Z and Beyoncé as you knew them. How real could their relationship have even been? They’re in the same zip code as one another what, maybe 30, 40 days per year? We’re OK with our idols being good at business, but we don’t want to be reminded that they are businesses.

Celebrity media is an odd thing in that 90% of it is focused on what celebs are doing only 10% of the time, which is being something other than a celebrity. Photos of Beyoncé on the red carpet, for example, are sought after, but a photo of Beyoncé absent-mindedly breastfeeding her baby would be priceless, even if it appeared to have been taken by a camera on a Russian satellite. TMZ’s Harvey Levin has made himself an awful lot of money by pulling back the wood veneers of celebrity to expose the ugly linoleum hiding beneath, but at what cost? For as obsessed as we are with the private lives of the rich and famous, it’s odd that we’re surprised when we find out that, sometimes, their lives are just as dark and twisted as ours. And yet, when it’s revealed that they’ve failed to live up to the spotless images they’ve built for themselves, they fall harder than you or I ever could in similar circumstances. Just ask Mel “Sugar Tits” Gibson, yet another celebrity male role model who failed to retain our respect.

How We Define "Successful Men"Success is to men what the thigh gap is to women. That is, it’s the reason we look up to public figures who we otherwise wouldn’t know from Adam. While the body images the media demands of women are inarguably the most absurd and unreachable standards, men have a different sort of problem: We demand of them not just success, but success in all facets of life. Jay Z wouldn’t be an icon if he were simply a swell husband to Beyoncé, but otherwise a nobody. That busker in the subway station may be incredibly successful at performing music, but no one looks up to him because he hasn’t “made it” in the industry. While nothing can take away Jay Z’s accolades and fortune (save for maybe Beyoncé, depending on the prenup), his failure as a husband will and could forever be a hindrance as to how truly “successful” men consider him. How that plays out will depend a lot on how he recovers from the rumored divorce.

For a lesson in how not to go about repairing his image, Jay need only look as far as Robin Thicke, former kingpin of the R&B genre and current laughingstock. At one time, Thicke appeared to have it all, not unlike Jay Z except to perhaps a lesser extent: He struck it rich with the hottest single of the year, and convinced his lovely wife, Paula Patton, that it was cool if Emily Ratajkowski pranced around topless while he and Pharrell shot a music video. Eventually, when the murmurs of infidelity grew too loud, Patton left him and his response was, well, atrocious. He was sickeningly repentant, and released a terrible album full of terrible songs for the explicit purpose of getting his wife back. Not surprisingly, no one bought it. Atonement and accountability are desirable qualities in male role models, but the one Thicke instead expressed — weakness — is perhaps the easiest way for a celebrity to find himself kicked off his pedestal.

How Would You Handle It?How Jay Z reacts as news shakes out will tell us a lot about not just who he is as a man, but how us regular men might handle a similar situation. Should the allegations prove to be true, one would think the right move on his part would be one of respect: respect her space, respect her feelings and respect any decision she makes regarding the union. To try to “win her back” after she’s been confronted with mortifying news like infidelity isn’t respectful, it’s the opposite. Obviously you would hope he’d fight for his rights regarding his daughter, but otherwise? If she’s gonna go, man, let her go. If you really do love her, then you respect her enough to let her make her own decisions. Will he do that? Only time will tell, but the men who look up to Jay sure hope he does.

Of course, let’s not forget the obvious, more likely possibility — they’re on tour and not getting enough attention, and this is a good PR stunt. Would that make both of them look despicable? Yes. Would it stick for very long? No, not at all.